Matthew 2:16 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Matthew 2:16-18)Herod had been careful at first to disguise his true murderous intent and had no reason to believe he had not been successful. He had become skilled at hypocrisy over many years, and certainly did not take account of any supernatural intervention to warn the wise men of what was really in his mind. However, that was exactly what had happened and the Lord had given the magi a glimpse of the secrets of another human being’s wicked mind. Herod would have expected them back within a certain time and they had not returned. He had perhaps received a report from Bethlehem that they had left, and were obviously not coming back to him. They had evidently agreed to return, else he would not have expressed the situation so strongly: that he had been mocked by them. He knew nothing of God’s warning to them in a dream, and therefore must have concluded that they had never intended to return, in which case they had deceived him just as he had intended to deceive them. He had been unsuccessful and they had been successful, and he exploded with rage. Actually, he was wrong: for all their wisdom, when Herod first spoke to them, he had successfully hidden his evil intent from them so that they suspected nothing and planned to do as he asked. But Herod’s rage was not of the kind where its force was undirected or allowed to go to waste. On the contrary, it was directed with cold and calculating purpose. His hypocritical charm now turned to rage as he judged that they had seen through him and repaid him in kind. Proud men react with intense anger when they are crossed. Herod now expands the scope of his murderous scheme. He had maybe originally planned to kill one child only, if he could be certain that he had identified that child. But even at the start, his cunning had been so great that he had anticipated the possibility of this situation, and gathered sufficient information to furnish his backup plan which he now put into effect.